Serenitynow Wrote:What specific Sig and Arken scopes are you referencing in this thread ?
I have a Vortex 3-9, but am looking for more magnification for longer range shooting. My eyes ain't what they used to be.
Sig is a older BDX 4.5 - 14X. Arken is the 4 - 16 x 50 VPR MOA. I find that in LR shooting the clarity of the glass and the reticle count for far more than the magnification. With the Sig the thick duplex reticle completely obliterated a 1 inch red dot on my target at 100 yards. It will make a fine scope foo a hunting rifle or even ok for long rage stuff but for 100 yard target shooting the reticle just sucked. With the Arken at 16X I could make out a 1 1/2 - 2 inch spray painted dot on the steel and the reticle did not cover the 1 MOA dot. It was just a orange speck on the white plate at 850 but it was visible because of the cloudy day and I could center on it. If it had been sunny I would have just "quartered" the target. When shooting in a competition I "quarter the black" often dialing back my higher powered scopes down into the teens or even lower to minimize the mirage. Shooting on a sunny day at the mirage at higher powers will turn the target into a wavy black blur. I find a 15X scope is plenty as long as the glass and the reticle are good.
Edit - it may sound counter intuitive but on my short range benchrest rifles I want as much magnification as I can get. My 50 yard rimfire bench rifles have 32 and 40 X scopes on them with .125 MOA click turrets and a .125 target dot with fine crosshairs